1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to managing user rights across a communications network. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods enabling coordination of asset entitlements acquired by a user across multiple domains or distribution channels.
2. Background Art
Consumers are increasingly turning to online providers when shopping for goods and services. In an effort to protect the personal and financial information required to complete an online transaction, providers of goods and services typically provide a secure network domain and require that the consumer participate in creating a user identity specific to the provider and their secure network domain. This user identity may consist of potentially sensitive personally identifiable information such as an address, telephone number, credit card information, email address, and the like. In addition, the consumer may be required to create log-in credentials such as a username and password to authenticate their identity to the provider when engaging in a transaction using the secure domain.
In a conventional approach to managing a user identity within a secure provider domain, the potentially sensitive consumer information and consumer credentials are relationally linked together by the provider in the form of a unique provider defined consumer identification (consumer ID). Across a network, such as the Internet, for example, a consumer may have a unique user identity and related unique provider generated consumer ID that is domain specific and associates them only to the secure domain of the respective provider, for each provider with which the consumer interacts.
There may be many circumstances, however, in which an exchange of consumer transaction information among secure provider domains can provide advantages to consumers and providers alike. For example, the exchange of consumer transaction information across multiple secure providers can enable delivery of product and/or service availability information to a consumer that is more likely to be responsive to his or her tastes and preferences. As a result, a consumer may gain more transparent access to products and/or services of genuine interest, while being more effectively screened from advertising material focused on products and services likely to be less desirable. Unfortunately, as the result of conventional approaches to ensuring the security of individual online transactions, should a provider wish to share transaction information for a given consumer with one or more other providers, they may be unable to do so without also sharing consumer credentials or other potentially sensitive or personally identifiable information about the consumer.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a solution for managing and coordinating the distribution of consumer transaction information across provider domains that enables the sharing of information about consumer asset acquisitions while protecting sensitive financial and other personally identifiable consumer information.